Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice
Youth sport tends to focus on training to enhance athletic performance. However, the most harmful performance stressors aren’t necessarily based on physical abilities, but rather surround an athlete’s mindset. With their brains and self-awareness still developing, young athletes can find the sporting environment extremely stressful. Young athletes particularly have a fear of embarrassment or making mistakes which negatively influences decision making, tactical awareness, and perceived ability to successfully perform tasks (decreased self-efficacy). With the right tasks, a coach can influence an athlete’s anxiety levels, enjoyment in sport, and overall sport confidence (Duda & Balaguer, 2007). Therefore, the coach plays an essential role in promoting a positive climate that nurtures progress and in which confidence and self-esteem are positively impacted.
Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice
In high school, many athletes have the mindset that winning is the only thing that matters. This mindset can be detrimental to their motivation, especially when they face challenges like not starting as a senior or losing a game even when they played their best. As a coach, you have the ability to change this mindset by creating a positive environment focused on mastery of skills that prioritizes athlete self-improvement instead of peer comparison. Research has shown that the environment, or sport climate, influences an athlete’s motivation and can be directly influenced by you (Horn, 2008).
Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice
The greatest athletes in the world all have clear-cut goals and excel at having a process to achieve them. As a coach, you want your athletes to be at the top of their game consistently and it is important that you take the correct measures to foster an environment that will give them the proper mindset to excel in their sport. By understanding and using Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), you can help athletes pursue the most appropriate goals and guide them on a path to success.
Sport Psychology in Action: 4-Part Article Series Connecting Research to Practice
A lot has changed in sports during 2020. Coaching in a COVID-19 world has shifted to online platforms and away from in-person interactions. Games, competitions and races have been put on hold for an indefinite time. For an athlete, the inability to work on attaining their goals can be very demotivating and this disruption can lead to a lack of focus, a sense of loss, or a need to reassess their athletic identity. Some athletes might even want to leave their sport altogether. Negative emotions such as disappointment, fear, loss, anger, frustration and confusion are normal responses during times of uncertainty. While each athlete manages their emotions in different ways, some athletes may have a harder time focusing on training and long-term goals when they do not know when their next race will occur. Coaches can help with this by providing guidance and encouragement.
Introduction: Sport Psychology in Action When I was a student (not so that long ago), my professors all emphasized the importance of bringing the research we did to those individuals who could put it into practice. Unfortunately, even though they spoke of this value, most assigned work focused on an audience of academics instead of coaches in the field. Now that I am a professor at Boise State University, I want to put these words into action. One way I try to do this is through my students’ course assignments. Specifically, in my theoretical sport psychology masters course, one of the major assignments is a blog post that must take research articles and tailor the content to a specific audience (e.g., coaches, parents, athletes). Through this assignment, I hope students see the value of communicating research, often hidden behind a paywall or difficult to access, to the coaching audience that can put the content into practice in their own work.
It is with this lens that I present four articles completed in a course this past fall semester. Each of the authors was a master’s student in the course that focused on sport psychology theory. In the course, we cover a variety of topics including anxiety, confidence, motivation, and a number of constructs that influence coaching behaviors. In the assignment, students were able to focus their article on any topic they choose and direct it to any audience they feel would benefit from the information.
The coach-athlete relationship stands as a central pillar in the quest for understanding how interpersonal dynamics affect athletic performance. Indeed, the interactions between coaches and athletes are widely recognized as an important antecedent to both positive and negative sport outcomes (Choi, Cho, & Huh, 2013; Lafreniere, Jowett, Vallerand, & Carbonneau, 2011; Poczwardowski, Barrot, & Jowett, 2006). Moreover, coach-athlete relationships are acknowledged as important in contexts ranging from youth sports (Smoll, & Smith, 2006) to elite international competition (Jowett & Cockerill, 2003). The purpose of this article is to explore two important aspects of the coach-athlete relationship that can inform coaching practice.
The process a coach uses to develop an athlete can be applied to assist coaches in pursuing a successful head coaching career. Due to the numerous roles and responsibilities, qualified coaches’ preparation and training have become a topic of great importance. New coaches should pursue experiences and opportunities that lend themselves well towards successful head coaching tenures. Findings from a pilot study of twelve NCAA Division I head coaches identified three considerations for assistant coaches pursuing head coaching positions: finding a coaching mentor, gaining coaching experience, and pursuing coaching education.
Photo of Kelly Carlstrom, Basketball Coach, Troy High School (ID)
Coaching Mentors Lyle (1986) describes mentoring as essential in young coaches’ development because learning from more experienced coaches occurs. Learning how to coach effectively is facilitated by participating in informal and formal learning communities with coaching peers (Gilbert, Gallimore, & Trudel, 2009), who may serve as professional mentors. In a study conducted by Irwin, Hanton, and Kerwin (2004), 91% of coaches in the study identified mentoring as very important in developing elite coaching knowledge. Mentors not only socialize mentees into the profession, but they also help their mentee navigate problems or consider important decision-making factors, to eliminate fumbling over unseen obstacles later on in one’s career (Abravanel, 2012). Citing Coakley’s (1990) initial work acknowledges the importance of veteran coaches on the careers of those who would like to become a full-time coach and suggests that younger coaches’ future usually depends on the sponsorship of established coaches serving as a mentor. Once a mentor has been identified and a relationship established, assistant coaches should gain as much coaching experience as possible.
Coaching Experience Years of experience as an athlete may influence the developmental stage of learning to coach (Gilbert & Trudel, 2005) and coaches draw on their own experiences, interactions with other coaches, and numerous athletes’ experiences to employ their coaching development (Lynch & Mallett, 2008). While rookie coaches may possess a great coach’s inherent qualities, it is still pertinent to gain a variety of quality coaching experiences (i.e., different athletes, facilities, coaching strategies) in fostering coaching learning and improvement.
